Jasir Mayat was excited to move to Colorado from Pakistan a few months ago to attend CSU as a freshman in the College of Business.

When Mayat, a student in the INTO program for international students, read a statement on the CSU INTO website that said a dietitian would be there to work with students who follow a halal diet, he interpreted this to mean halal meat was served at dining halls on campus.

However, Mayat arrived at CSU and found that halal meat was not yet offered, despite other halal options such as vegetarian and seafood dishes. He sprung into action and approached CSU Housing and Dining Services about introducing halal meat to CSU dining halls.

Halal meat will now be served at the Parmelee dining hall starting Monday.

“We knew this was coming, given the INTO program,” said Peter Testory, senior executive chef for CSU Housing and Dining Services. “Jasir was the first student (to approach us), but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t already on our program.”

Mayat explained that Halal is an Arabic word meaning “permitted” or “lawful.” Halal meat is the only meat Muslims are allowed to eat, based on their Islam religion. It refers to beef and chicken mainly, as pork is forbidden in Islam. Seafood is considered Halal, with some restrictions.

Having four wives is halal in Islam. So is beating those wives and marrying them when they are under age. Six years old if a good Muslim follows Mohammed’s example. Sex at nine years old. But that wouldn’t fit into Emily Smith’s story.

According to Mayat, an animal used for Halal meat must be killed by a Muslim, who is required to say an Arabic phrase that means “in the name of Allah” while slaughtering the animal.

The animal must be killed by severing the jugular vein so it becomes numb and doesn’t feel much pain.

“Because we go for the jugular vein it’s considered one of the most humane ways of slaughtering an animal,” Mayat said. “In Islam we have a very high regard for animals and we don’t like inflicting pain on them.”

Ironic. Slicing the throat so as not to inflict pain. Emily Smith and her Muslim interlocutor fail to mention the most important of Islamic slaughter – praising Allah while cutting the animals throat.

For the meat to be Halal it also must be free from contamination from alcohol or pork when being cooked and all the blood must be drained completely from the animal before it is consumed.

“After I came here and found out there was no such thing (as Halal meat in dining halls) I was pretty worried about it,” Mayat said. “Especially considering there’s a lot of Muslims on campus, from all over the world.”

According to fall 2012 data from the Institutional Research Factbook, out of 1,133 total international students at CSU, there are 39 students from Kuwait, 165 from Saudi Arabia and 6 from Pakistan, all of which are primarily Islamic countries.

“I wanted to introduce Halal meat so other incoming Muslim students and Muslim students already here on campus would have easier access to food,” Mayat said. “I wanted to do something good for my community, for the Muslim community in general.”

To get Halal meat introduced on campus, Mayat was hired by CSU Housing and Dining Services to survey about 100 Muslim students to find out if there was enough demand.

“This student approached us and we reacted immediately by hiring him to work for us and help us find the need for it,” Testory said.

Getting paid to implement sharia on a state university in the U.S. It doesn’t get any better for Muslim immigrants.

Mayat’s surveys found that 26 Muslim students on campus practice a halal diet. Many of the students responded that they eat haram (unlawful) meat currently because of the lack of protein options and that they would eat halal meat if it was available.

Housing and Dining Services felt this was adequate demand. Halal meat will be substituted into the regular Parmelee menu on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays at lunch and dinner, according to Testory. These days were chosen because they are the weekdays when there are no Halal seafood items already available on the menu.

The Corbett dining hall also features halal options which currently do not include beef or chicken. Some of these options are mozzarella cheese sticks, red beans and rice, baked cod with lemon, grilled Portobello mushrooms and more.

“We’re pleased that this particular INTO CSU student was among those who made their dietary requirements known,” said Avery Waxman, senior director of marketing communications and recruitment strategy at INTO, in an email to the Collegian.

“And that CSU Dining Services has been able to respond in a way that not only meets their needs but also gives other students and staff even more options from which to choose,” Waxman said.

Testory said CSU Housing and Dining Services currently offer other religious food options. For Jewish students they provide apples and honey during Rosh Hashanah and matzah during Passover.

Fish is offered on Fridays during Lent for Catholic students. For the Islamic holiday Ramadan, during which Muslims fast from sunrise to sunset, CSU Housing and Dining Services allows students a takeout container, two meal swipes at breakfast instead of one and late night meal swipes.

For more information on Halal dining options students can contact CSU Housing and Dining Services at 970-491-6511.

the only thing is, is that food for Jews and Christians isn’t an all the time thing.. and clearly the next demand will be no pork on campus!
I for one wouldn’t wish to eat Halal food..not when it is offered to Allah.. the same Allah the shooter at Sort Hood offered to before he began murdering and maiming!

One never heard of Jewish students/people demanding Kosher food – no other religious denomination makes a ‘big deal’ of their religious requirements – only islamists – they come here and demand we take down our religious icons in Catholic schools, teach islam in grammer school (& soon will put an extra strain on our education system and demand halal meals for their kids in school) – and in general, push around the American people to get what they want – sharia law, everything islam. There is no end to their complaining about our police system – they have a huge law suit against the NYC police dept. because they won’t stop training their police in anti-terrorist attacks and are putting Muslims under surveillance….Gee – they just caught one trying to blow up the Fed. Reserve Bank in NYC – hateful, loathesome people. There are around 312 million Americans in the US and about 2 million Islamists – I think there are enough of us to get all of them the hell out of our country – they are NOTHING but trouble.

if kosher is served they do not need HALAL meals- b/c all KOSHER foods are already Halal- Muslims can say the prayer when they eat it- Halal food is not kosher b/c it does not meet the requirements- when Jews were a small majority they provided meals to Jews in schools, prisons etc by private charity, family supplied or volunteers. In prison I can see the problem having food brought in as a security risk but not in schools- are there no restaurants for them? no kitchens? no mosque to go for halal meals? volunteer families?

one more bitch and whine from the religion of perpetual demand and outrage-

Kosher Jewish slaughter is much, much more strict than Islamic Halal. Kosher slaughter is Kosher because the slaughter follows the laws and instructions in the Jewish bible, the Torah. It has nothing to do with prayer. Praying over meat does not make it Kosher. Following Torah instructions for its slaughter, that’s the ONLY thing that makes it Kosher.

Because Kosher laws are so much stricter than Halal, automatically any Muslim who eats Kosher food is automatically eating Halal.

All the Muslim needs to do at that point, since Halal DOES require a prayer (unlike Kosher), is to pray to Allah over the food before he eats it. All other slaughtering requirements were far and away met already by the Kosher slaughter.

This is why a Jew would NEVER eat Halal, because Halal is on a lower level of strictness than Kosher. And this is why a Muslim can ALWAYS eat Kosher and never be amiss.

The laws of Islam allow a Muslim during his travels to eat Kosher food — just as the laws of Islam allow him to worship in a Jewish synagogue if no mosque is found nearby.

As well, he laws of Judaism permit a Jew to worship in a mosque if no synagogue is to be found during his travels.

However, BOTH Jewish nor Islamic law forbid stepping foot in a church, due to the idolatry there (human sacrifice, turning a man into God and worshipping that man, etc.).

People need to realise that Judaism is not a Western religion. It’s an Eastern religion, with FAR more in common with Islam than with Christianity.

In fact the foundational doctrines and beliefs of Judaism and Christianity are so far apart and different that they are polar opposites. Much closer, is Islam in its doctrines.

Personally I don’t see a problem. Many US universities have made arrangements to offer Kosher meals for Jewish students. Although I absolutely do not support the advancement of shira, I don’t see a problem of treating Muslems differently that we treat Jews or any other religion for that matter.

Treating Muslims differently is not the problem. The problem is that they are not content with just getting their halal food. Their culture which is their religion tells them that anyone who does not follow is an infidel and subject to sharia punishment. They don’t want to integrate their food or anything else for a matter of fact. They want to impose and threaten if its not complied. If freedom of choice is of any value you must oppose Islamic sharia. There’s no such thing as a moderate Muslim. You are or you’re not. It’s halal and only halal. Get it?

My cousin went over there to teach, and now is dead. Could not keep her mouth shut, and did not want to convert. Too bad. Thats on her for going there. I warned her.

Now I must accept these people and their ways here. Sounds like a lot of people are going to have a rude awakening with these people once they get their numbers up. I really hate these politically correct liberals deciding whats best for the USA. There has never been more damage done than by liberals thinking they are doing the right thing.

I keep kosher and yes kosher meat is more expensive. But that is due to the processing that is labor intensive. Kosher meat has to be salted and washed repeatedly. Only certain parts of a cow can be eaten. If there is a blemish in the meat, the cow isn’t to be used. Even before the cow is killed it has to be chosen carefully by the butchers.